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Financial crisis explained to Queen Elizabeth II

[December 14, 2012]  LONDON (AP) -- In 2008, Queen Elizabeth II asked academics why no one saw the financial crisis coming. On Thursday, she finally got an answer.

Sujit Kapadia from the Bank of England's Financial Services Committee gave the queen three reasons as she visited the central bank in London. He told her that financial crises are like earthquakes -- rare and difficult to predict. Kapadia also said that growing complacency since markets were stable had led people to think regulation wasn't necessary. Third, people didn't realize how interconnected the financial system had become.

Elizabeth asked what is being done to prevent another global downturn, acknowledging that "people got a bit lax" and that perhaps financial crises are "difficult to foresee."

On her visit, the queen and her husband also toured vaults full of gold.

[Associated Press]

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